IFAF U19: Japan’s quick start earns victory over France, face Canada in Semi’s

Coghlan earned Japan MVP honors for his play on Saturday. In addition to the touchdown he recorded one forced fumble, one fumble recovery and averaged 40.5 yards on four punts.
“We are happy to be going into the semifinals,” said Colghan. “Winning this game is very important but winning the next game is even more important.”
Japan advances to the next round on July 4 for what could be a repeat of the 2009 semi final clash with their victors three years ago Canada, who meet Sweden at 6pm CT / 7pm ET tonight. France will play the losers of that game on July 3.
“We were not able to play at their speed and we only had three practices before we arrived here so we knew it would be tough,” said France coach Olivier Moret. “The good thing is that we were much better in the second half and we were the second half. We’re going to prepare in a better way for the second game.”

After three-and-outs by both teams to start the game France failed to pick up a first down on its second series and a 20-yard punt into a strong breeze set Japan up at the France 33. Japan settled for a 22-yard field goal from Nanami Ariwa for a 3-0 lead with 2:24 to go in the first quarter. The drive featured a 14-yard completion from Kyogo Kishimura to Satoshi Sagino and a 12-yard run by James Takada.

French miscues set up the next to Japan scores. On France’s initial play of the next drive Coghlan stepped in front of a Mathias Soler pass and returned it 25 yards for a score to extend Japan’s lead to 10-0 at the 2:04 mark of the first quarter.

On the first play of the next series France fumbled and Japan recovered at the France 22-yard line. After a false start to start the drive, Japan moved 27 yards in four plays and pushed the lead to 17-0 on a Takada 1-yard run with five seconds left in the opening quarter.

France ran off the first five minutes of the second quarter on the ensuing drive and moved the ball to midfield before stalling and punting the ball back to Japan with 7:03 left in the second quarter.

Japan took over at its own 17-yard line and back-up quarterback Saeki Ryunosuke orchestrated an 11-play 83-yard drive that was capped by Sagino’s second rushing touchdown, this one from 15 yards out, to up Japan’s lead to 24-0 with 1:37 left in the half.

France opted to play into the wind in the second half. Japan stretched the lead to 27-0 on a 38-yard field goal by Ariwa with 5:13 to go in the third quarter.

Following the field goal France put together its first sustained drive of the day. Soler picked up 37 yards on a quarterback scramble and Japan aided the French effort with a 15-yard facemask penalty before running back Nicolas Khandar broke loose on a 26-yard touchdown run with 1:50 to go in the third quarter to cut the Japan lead to 27-6 after a blocked PAT attempt.

France looked to have caught a break early in the fourth quarter when Japan fumbled a punt and it was recovered by France’s Maxime Venot Petit at the Japan 23. But Khandar had the ball knocked loose on the next play and Japan took over at its own 15 to end the threat.

Safety Carl Tembo was named France’s MVP after posting eight tackles, including seven solo stops.

Team 1 2 3 4 Final
Japan 3   21   3 0 27
France   0 0 6   0 6

Games will air on a live webcast on CanadaFootballChat.com at (http://www.canadafoo…/live_games.php).

Schedule (all times CST)

Saturday, June 30

9 AM
Panama vs. Austria

11:30 AM
Japan vs. France

5 PM
Canada vs. Sweden

8 PM
USA vs. American Samoa

Tuesday, July 3

5 PM
Loser JPN/FRA vs. Loser CAN/SWE

8 PM
Loser PAN/ AUT vs. Loser USA/ AMS

Wednesday, July 4

5 PM
Winner JPN/FRA vs. Winner CAN/SWE

8 PM
Winner PAN/ AUT vs. Winner USA/ AMS

Friday, July 6

5 PM
Seventh-Place Game

8 PM
Fifth-Place Game

Saturday, July 7

5 PM
Bronze Medal Game

8 PM
Gold Medal Game

FINAL 2012 Junior National Team roster

Quarterbacks
Will Finch / Burlington, ON
Dallon Kuprowski / Kanata, ON
Hugo Richard / St-Bruno-de-Montarville, QC

Running Backs
Christopher Amoah / Lachine, QC
Andreas Robinson / Dartmouth, NS
Mercer Timmis / Burlington, ON

Receivers
Regis Cibasu / Montréal, QC
Doug Corby / Burlington, ON
A’dre Fraser / Lawrencetown, NS
Tylor Henry / Camrose, AB
Alexandre Huard / Laval, QC
Alexandre Savard / Lorraine, QC
Ryan Smith / Sherwood Park, AB

Offensive Line
Kadeem Adams / Halifax, NS
Louis-Gabriel Beaudet / Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC
Andrew Boisvert / Sherwood Park, AB
Lloyd Constant / Montréal, QC
Emilio Frometa / Sudbury, ON
Nathan Heide / Warman, SK
Erick Lessard / Sudbury, ON
David Knevel / Brantford, ON
Jean-Simon Roy / Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC

Defensive Line
Edward Godin Gosselin / Saint-Augustin-de-Desmaures, QC
Quinn Horton / Winnipeg, MB
Jacob Leblanc / Halifax, NS
Clement Lebreux / Candiac, QC
Glen Joorisity / Deer Valley, SK
Adam Melanson / Kentville, NS
Charles Rémy-Sarrazin / Montréal, QC
Brett Wade / Regina, SK

Linebackers
Pierre-Luc Caron / Laval, QC
Tanner Doll / St. Albert, AB
Maxime Drolet / Québec, QC
Nicholas Easterbrook / Laval, QC
Jean-Gabriel Poulin / St-Nicolas, QC
John Rush / Port Robinson, ON
Marc-Antoine Varin / St-Hippolyte, QC

Defensive Backs
Keldyn Ahlstedt / Whitby, ON
Keegan Arnyek / Moose Jaw, SK
Tomy Duperron / Sherbrooke, QC
Khadim Mbaye / Laval, QC
Kevin McGee / Sherbrooke, QC
Rees Paterson / Sherwood Park, AB
Michael Schmidt / Calgary, AB

Kicker, Punter
Louis-Philippe Simoneau / Saint-Hyachinthe, QC

Coaching and Support Staff

Noel Thorpe / Head Coach

Warren Craney / Defensive Coordinator – Linebackers
Pat Boies / Offensive Coordinator
Gilles Lezi / Special Teams Coordinator- Running Backs
Michael Faulds / Quarterbacks
Alain Mainguy / Offensive Line
Kamau Peterson / Receivers
Brian Guebert / Defensive Line
Devin Murphy / Defensive Backs

Patrick Gendron / Athletic Therapist
Jean-Baptiste Laporte / Athletic Therapist
Jeremy Clouthier / Video Coordinator
Jacques Guilbault / Equipment manager
Elliott Richardson / Strength and Conditioning Coach

Players by Province:
Quebec – 20
Ontario – 9
Alberta – 6
Nova Scotia – 5
Saskatchewan – 4
Manitoba – 1